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The Louisianians who reside in and near Ama are known for their civic pride, caring nature, as well as strong family bonds. Whenever difficult times occur, the people of Ama have a history of pulling together and helping one another, just as they did when Hurricane Katrina rained destruction upon Southern Louisiana’s parishes. Unfortunately, life has many storms, and while the weather brings most storms, others are just part of life. Probably none more distressing than when somebody we care for develops an incurable illness. Even so, these storms happen to every one of us. Inevitably, we all will have to suffer through the passing of our loved ones because all of our lives will ultimately come to an end.
When a loved one is reaching the end of their life, most of us are not prepared and often at a loss as to where to turn for the guidance we require to help us traverse this challenging and often unfamiliar aspect of life. In many circumstances, hospice care is the solution we need to support us with the challenges of taking care of our loved ones full-time.
Most Ama residents likely believe that hospice is a place which people go to die. However, hospice isn’t a destination, and it is not about dying. In reality, hospice is a compassionate, holistic medical care which improves the quality of life for our patients and their family caregivers. It also allows people that have a terminal condition to experience the best quality of life attainable with the time they have left.
Hospice also makes it possible for people nearing the end of their lives to continue to live in Ama and live in their homes with their loved ones around them. In fact, almost ninety percent of the people that elect hospice as a treatment option continue to remain in their homes up until their passing. It doesn’t matter if they live in a house, a retirement community, or an apartment in Ama because hospice is almost always conducted in a patient’s home, regardless of the place they call home. Hospice Associates’ specialized staff will come to your Ama home and deliver the compassionate care you or your loved one needs, and we will do it when you or your loved one requires it, anytime, 24 hours a day. Hospice Associates is no more than a phone call away.
How is it that just one word could produce so much anxiety?
How does one particular word cause people to cringe?
One word that a lot of people never hope to hear…
That word is HOSPICE, and it is not as scary as one might make it out to be. Hospice should not be a thing to be feared, it is something to be welcomed.
Hospice was initially a shelter for those with a life-limiting illness– a place where the dying would go to live out the final days of their lives. Nowadays, hospice is no longer viewed as a destination. Instead, it is now thought of as a medical service that administers comfort and care to terminally ill patients in their homes. Whether that home is within a nursing home, assisted living facility, relatives’ residence, or their very own home. Hospice can be administered to patients irrespective of the location they refer to as home.
Among the primary myths about hospice I have come across is that a lot people quite often assume hospice care is reserved exclusively for patients that only have a couple of days left to live. The truth is hospice becomes accessible as soon as a physician tells their patient that their disease is incurable and a cure is no longer a possibility.
My experience as a hospice nurse have offered me the opportunity to witness the blessing of what hospice care offers to a family. One of the things I frequently hear from family members is that wish they would have known hospice was an option well before they did. I believe this is because hospice reduces the burden placed on family members and provides them peace of mind. Once they understand the relief hospice provides, families can start to enjoy the short time they have remaining with the people they love.
I think this is because the sooner hospice is offered to a family, the sooner they can let go of the anxiety and fear of being the only ones providing care to their loved one. And when they understand the relief it provides, they can begin appreciating the short time they have remaining with their loved one.
We help walk families through every aspect of the disease process, so they can understand how illness will progress and what they should come to anticipate. Then when things develop, we are readily available to respond to all of their questions and tend to any concerns they may have. With this knowledge and understanding, families lose the fear of the unfamiliar and are given the resources they need to help their loved ones throughout the process of dying.
This is not only for our patients but also for their families. Comfort is a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint. Hospice gives hospice patients and family members with spiritual, psychosocial, and physical comfort. Pain can be caused by many different things, however, it is not limited to merely physical pain.
Hospice even helps to take off the restrictions you may feel your condition has placed on you. For a few, possessing the awareness and recognizing what you should expect may be freeing. We never put limitations on what our patients can or can’t do. Our objective is to help you be as comfortable and enjoy each and every moment that you have left to the fullest together with the ones you love.
The majority of hospice care is provided in-home, irrespective of the place the patient calls their home. Care can be offered at your personal residence, nursing homes, assisted living, group homes, or family residences.
Any individual, whether a relative, patient, close friend, personal doctor or healthcare professional, can make a referral to Hospice Associates. Referrals are fully confidential. If you know of someone that is in need of our services, contact us at 504-457-2200 to discuss whether we may be a suitable fit for the individual you are concerned for.
The best occasion to learn about hospice care is before you or somebody you love actually requires hospice care. However, itis never too late to learn more about hospice care or to discuss hospice with your family. By talking about hospice in advance, you ensure that everybody impacted possesses a good understanding of what is available to them.
Not at all, individuals of all ages with a life-limiting illness are able to undergo hospice care.
Yes. Your family doctor is part of our team. Our team will communicate and partner with your doctor to best understand your personal needs.
To qualify for hospice, you don’t need to be inactive. Our mission is to help our patients live their lives to the fullest. We encourage people in our care to do whatever they feel capable of doing and continue to keep on doing the things that bring them happiness.What helps make hospice special is that it focuses on patient care and not on a cure. Hospice care enables people which have developed a life-limiting illness to specify how they wish to spend the rest of their lives. Hospice care ministers to the entire person, and their family is viewed as part of the unit of care. It emphasizes pain control and living life fully.
Hospice care, even in-home hospice is almost always 100% paid for by Medicare and Medicaid, so hospice care is something everybody that needs it can afford. Individual insurance can sometimes help subsidize the cost of things Medicare and Medicaid may not cover.
Hospice Associates offers hospice and palliative services to every qualified* person that resides within a 50-mile radius of New Orleans, that includes Ama.
Hospice volunteers are generally available to provide different types of support to patients and their loved ones, which may include:
Call Us: 504-457-2200
FAX: 504-457-2207
Physician managed hospice
and palliative care